I was asked to join a group of interfaith clergy in a program titled Peaceful Presence, which would be aired during the 2020 Convention. This is the text that I spoke in the video:
Welcome to the 2020 Convention!
I am very honored to have been invited on this occasion to deliver a message of peace for our nation from the Buddhist perspective.
Buddha Shakyamuni, who lived 2,500 years ago, set out to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings. He gave up his privilege as an heir to an influential aristocratic oligarch and became a traveling monk and teacher, who would liberate human beings in all walks of life.
The Buddha, the awakened one, developed a religious and moral practice that, to this day, brings comfort and healing to all who follow it.
In the Dhammapada, one of the earliest texts, is this quote:
Refraining from evil,
engaging in what is beneficial,
and clarifying one's mind;
his is the teaching of the buddhas.
Understanding the true nature of reality, we realize that all beings are interdependent. In these last months of the coronavirus crisis this teaching has become painfully clear:
Every person, as independent as we may feel, is dependent on others who provide food, shelter, clothing, medicine and all the conveniences that we take for granted.
All humans are also dependent on air, water, soil, trees, and the animal family. Climate scientists are pointing to another, even bigger crisis, the constant warming of the planet, which can eventually lead to the end of biological life.
We cannot afford petty fights for dominance any longer, but have to recognize the dangers that threaten all of us. We must wake up to our full potential, become responsible stuarts of the earth, and elect leaders who will take skillful action to guide us into a sustainable and peaceful future.
A Tibetan Buddhist teacher said in A Call to Contemplation and Action on Climate Change in 2009: The escalating threat to the world’s environment and climate stems from a profound predicament that affects all humanity. We are ever more rapidly losing our connection with the sacred nature of our world. This tragedy affects us in so many ways, but at its heart, it is a crisis of the spirit. We are harming our planet and fellow beings because we are losing touch with the basic goodness of our own sacred being.
Let us stand together as one community of diverse people, with different skills and gifts, who can learn and benefit from each other and support those who are in need.
This is from The Loving Kindness Meditation, the Metta Sutta:
May all beings be happy.
May they be joyous and live in safety.
All living beings, whether weak or strong,
In high or middle or low realms of existence,
Small or great, visible or invisible,
Near or far, born or to be born,
May all beings be happy.
Let noone deceive another nor despise any being in any state.
Let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.
Even as a mother at the risk of her life
Watches over and protects her only child,
So with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things.
Suffusing love over the entire world,
Above, below, and all around, without limit,
So let one cultivate an infinite goodwill toward the whole world.
May all beings everywhere be happy, peaceful, and free.
May peace prevail.
May it be so.
Let us now take a moment of silence and contemplate our intentions for this day and for the days to come.
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Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity
May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.
Shantideva, Indian Buddhist sage 700 A.D., Prayer performed each morning by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
